kada-awashima jinja
In Hakodate, I found a ichimatsu doll. I travelled all over Japan, carrying her in my backpack. Some strange things happened to me (which I don't want to elaborate too much). A monk I met in Kyoto told me about Awashima, but I thought he was talking about some restaurants in Kyoto. Another monk I met in tea house (who speak better English) told me to go to Kada near Wakayama. Wakayama was in my Lonely Planet Book, but Kada wasn't. So I did a search on Google using "wakayama kada shrine" and the second listing return "Awashima Jinja" (which reminded me about the monk's words in Kyoto). It didn't take me long to figure out how to get there. Finally I arrived at Awashima Jinja (the doll shrine). I dropped my doll in a green plastic donation box in front of the shrine office. Instantly, my shoulder felt lighter (of course, the doll was quite heavy). I said goodbye to her and began taking pictures around the shrine.
I entered the shrine, passing a couple seafood restaurants. The shrine office is on the right hand side of the main shrine building. They have a couple of plastic boxes in front of their office for people to drop off their donations. I dropped off my ichimatsu doll in one of the boxes.
How to go to Kada? You might want to visit the tourist information office first. The Wakayama tourist information center is located in the underground shopping arcade in front of the JR train station (not the restaurant arcade under the station), they have excellent English map and English speaking staff.
From JR Wakayama train station, you can take the JR train to Nankai Wakayama Shi Nankai station (but it is infrequent, only have 1 or 2 per hour), it is better to take city Bus (bus 0 leaves for Wakaymashi nankai station frequently and cost 220Y, other city buses will pass through the Wakayamshi station on the way), you can also walk, north west for about 2km or 30 minutes, passing along the Wakayama castle on the way.
From Nankai station, go to track 6 for Kada train, (2 to 3 trains per hour).
If you come from Osaka, it might be better to take the Nankai line from Nankai Namba Station. It goes directly to Nankaishi station, much less logistic complication. (Kada is only reachable by Nankai, not by JR)
After you reach kada station, the Awashima shrine is about 2km south west of from the kada train station, along the coast, and a bit in the mountain.
There are dolls of various kinds, dogs, sheep, bears, chickens, toads: anything you can imagine. Some of them are made of woods, some made of ceramic or porcelain.
Looking closely, you can see all these frogs were brutally murdered.
